Piston ring



Sept. 11, 1923. 1,467,408

H. P. WILKE PISTON RING' Filed oct. 11, 1922 Patented Sept. ll, 1923.

UNITED STATI-:s

PATENT. oFFicE.

HERMAN P. WILKE, OF BRAWLEY, CALIFORNA..

Arrs'roN RING.

application med october 1 1, 122. serial No. 593,83*"2.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat 1, HERMAN P. WILKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brawley, in the county of Imperial and State of California,have inventednew and vuseful'Improvements in Piston Rings, of

the provision of a piston ring which is provided with a peripheralgroove which serves to collec-t oil working along the cylinder walls,the groove` communicating with a series of holes formed through the ringand establishing communication -with the nterior of the piston by meansof other holes provided in the piston wall at the ring receiving groovetherein.

Another obgect 1s the provlsion of a ring of this character in which theupper edge of the ring itself and the lower edge of the groove thereinare beveled so that any oil whichmay have passed bythe oil groove in thering may have an opportunity to get back into the groove when thevpiston makes its upstroke, the other edges vbeing of a knife-like natureand exerting a scraping action on the down stroke of the iston.

An additional object isthe provlsion of a ringl of this character whichwill be very simple and inexpensive positive in action, eficient anddurable in service, and a general improvement in the art.

lVth the above and other objects and advanta es in. view, theinvention-consists in the detalls of construction to be hereinafter morev:tully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which Figure 1 is an edge elevation of my ring. Figure 2 isa vertical section through the ring applied in a specially constructedpiston.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section through the piston showing the ring inplace, a portion of theV ring being likewise in section.

in manufacture,

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have shown my ring 10 asbeing split inthe usual manner and preferablv provid ed with a steppedjoint 11, though it is conceivable that some1 other'typ'e might beprovided if found advantageous.l The ring is also shown as being ofuniform thickness throughout asy this particular lfeature appears to bemore practical.,

The main characteristic is a groove 12 which extends throughout theperiphery and which is designed for the purpose of catchingoil scrapedfrom the walls of the cylinder of the engine in which the ring is used.

The upper wall 13 of this groove is preferably slightly undercut at anangle, as shown, and the lower edge o r wall Vis correspondinglybeveled, as indicated at 14, the inner corner being rounded', as shownlat 14a. The lower edge of 'the' ring itself is sharp and square-whilethe upper edge is beveled, as'

show-n at 15.

The ring constructed' as'above described is very eicient in use withoutthe provision of any additionalfeatures but I have found it advantageousto provide several small holes 16 which lead from the groove 12 throughthe inner periphery. In this event the piston A infconnection with whichthe ring is used, is formed-with holes 17 which lead from the ringreceivin groove B, tov.

the interior of the piston bo y. v

In actual practice it is really necessary to use. only one of thesespecially constructed rings on each piston though of course more may beemployed if preferred. In the operation it will be seen that on the downstroke of the piston the lubricating oil which has previously splashedonto the cylinderfwalls is scraped oft' by the knife-like upper ed eofthe groove 12, the oil passing into t e groove' and thence through theholes 16 to the back of the ring and then throu h the holes 17 in the`piston. and eventuay bac-k into the crank case of the engine. The objectof having the beveled edge 15 at the top of the ring is to avoid a sharpedge so that any of the oil which may have Apassed by the oil groove inthe ring may have an.

opportunity to work into the groove when the piston makes its upstroke.The peculiar design of the groove combined with the particulararrangement of shari and beveled edges makes it practically impossible.for any quantity of o1l to escape by the ring and pass into thecombustion chamber. Oil consumption is grearly reduced and fouling ofthe spark plugs is' prevented, While the rpower is materially increased.

While I have shown land described the preferred embodiment of 'myinvention, it is of course to he understood that I reserve the right to'make such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts eswill not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of thesubjoined claims.

Having thus described myv invention, what I claim and desire to secureby letters pat'- ent is:

l. A piston ring provided in its periphery with e Continuous oilgroovehaving its upper edge sharp and its lower edge beveled, 'the lower edgeof the ring being Sharp and square end the upper edge being beveled, thering being formed with a series of holes leading from the groove to theinner periphery.

2. A piston ring provided in its periphery with a continuous oil groovehaving its upper edge sharp and its lower edge beveled, the lower edgeof the ring being sharp and square and the upper edge being heveled, thering being formed With a series of holes leading from the groove to iheinner periphery, in combination with a piston provided With a series ofholes leading from the ring receiving groove thereof to the interior.

In testimony whereof I a'x my si nature.

HERMAN iP. Wl KE.

